Rays Eating

[dave_oddballs]

hi, i have got 3 reticulated stingrays, as i was told is normal they never ate for the first day or so.
now out of the 1 male and 2 females, only the male and 1 female seems to be eating.
there is a big difference in the size's of them, not length or diameter but there bellies if you will, the male is really chunky now, as is the smaller female, but the other, although i swear i have seen it eat before, is still quite skinny. when i drop in bloodworm the other 2 come out crawling around eating it all but the skinny one just goes to the front corner and sits there. id maybe understand if it was the smallest one and a runt but its not, its a good inch wider than the other female.
as i was told before hand they are fussy eaters as juveniles so i expected it kind of, i didn't really have much confidence about their survival, but the 2 have eaten enough to last them a month and the 1 doesn't seem to be eating.
when i got them the guy said they was eating bloodworm and chopped prawns, i put both in but they seem to eat the prawns and don't seem to touch the prawns. anything else i could try? some say earth worms are good but their mouth's are tiny and i doubt they could eat one even if they wanted to!
i wouldn't be surprised if the fish had issues before i even got it as its just that one whilst the others are fine.
just suggestions really, something to entice it to eat maybe?

cheers, Dave

 

[bae1994]

as you know i have no experience with rays however heres some ideas

well you could try earhworms as some are almost as thin as blood worms

or live blood worms

or couls you feed them feeder shrimp like river shrimp

 

[Davo86]

how about live mealworms Dave? My Channa Banks and the Nandus are fussy eaters but both went straight for the mealworms,

 

[dave_oddballs]

i might try meal worms but i have doubts that they would even fit in their mouths, id have to place them on the floor as the other fish love them!
i might have a look for earth worms on ebay or something, see if i can find me some small ones.
might get some live bloodworms see if that makes any difference but i doubt it.
id love to get live river shrimp, and if you can find them for sale any where in lancashire then let me know because i can't, only in london then they cost double to send here so not worth it really.
i know its still early days so not really worried yet, at least 1 male and 1 female are doing very well! still, id rather them all live so i'll do all i can!
davo, you after any more banks? they had a few at bas for £4.95 each! thought it was cheap!

any other suggestions welcome!
cheers, Dave

 

[Davo86]

That is cheap, but i'd doubt they would survive with mine as it killed the other one i brought at the same time,

 

[indigoj]

Try a local fishing tackle shop for live earthworms.

What about finely chopped lance fish, cockles or mussels?

 

[dave_oddballs]

i just put some lance fish in actually, well more for the tiger fish, arowana, rocket gar and pink tailed chalceus.
i purposely put a few of the tiny lance fish on the bottom (only about an inch long) and the rays seem just to swim over them and leave them, maybe its just going to take a bit longer before the 3rd one eats, well saying that i think it has eaten, just not enough in my mind!
the lights just come back on (they come on at 10 in the morning, off at 2, on again at 6 and off at 10(to reduce the chance of algae etc.))
and the skinny ray is actively looking for food as far as i can work out, it goes around blowing water underneith, you can see when it does it right up against the glass, so maybe it just isn't as greedy as the other two, or maybe it just takes longer for some than others to settle?
saying that though out of them all its only the smaller female that gets scared when you approach the tank, it goes into a cloud of sand and disappears, so it thinks anyway.
i will just carry on for now and hope it is eating enough and hope it settles soon.
yeah jen i went to a tackle shop near me but the worms are big, i know you can cut them up but then they just die and everything ignores them, i will look online for someone who sells small ones! i think whole small ones would be more attractive to something about to eat them lol

 

[indigoj]

I know BAS order them in on request so maybe a local lfs could?

 

[dave_oddballs]

i will ask next time im in.
they won't touch cockles, i have them.
will let you know what happens!!

 

[Davo86]

Not sure if this is of any help; WormsDirect

 

[dave_oddballs]

oh thats good, i've bookmarked it, might order some of those when i have some money!
cheers for that

 

[simonas]

mine when it wouldnt eat eat earthworms from a regular seller on ebay, I chopped them up and the ray seemed to perk up for a bit and eat them

 

[dave_oddballs]

yeah im definitely going to get some and give them a try!

 

[always4lora]

The earthworms maybe big from the fish'n tackle shop but i'd doubt they'd be too big. my Channa Orientalis can eat worms far longer than themselves. Chopped or whole they will wriggle alot which must be tempting for the fishes

I'm not 100% sure if safe with rays but my channa also like maggots they obviously don't get big

 

[dave_oddballs]

i could try maggots i suppose, yeah but with the channa they have mouth's the width of their body, these rays mouths are about 1cm wide at the moment, i will just try and find some small worms, that website that davo86 showed has earthworms at 2-3cm and 4-5cm or something so that would be ideal really.
im just skint at the moment otherwise id buy lots of different things to try!
the ray still swims and is reasonably active so id guess it must have had something to eat otherwise after a week id of thought it would have showed some signs of deterioration, you think?
i need to go to the reptile place to pick up some crickets for the arowana and characin this week so i might get some more live meal worms and see if the rays like them. they won't even eat bits of prawns, but they eat lots of bloodworm so im not worried at the moment as long as they are eating something!